Episode lengths are teased for the upcoming John Wick spinoff show The Continental. After three hit movies, Keanu Reeves’ indestructible dog-loving assassin John Wick is already an iconic character. Now the universe of John Wick will get an expansion with The Continental, a Starz show centered on the movies’ mysterious assassin-friendly hotel.

Much of the mystery about The Continental of course centers on its owner Winston, played in the movies by Ian McShane. It’s been revealed now that fans will get to learn more about Winston and how he came to own the New York Continental in the Starz prequel show. Origin stories for multiple John Wick characters will in fact be explored in the series. One person who almost certainly won’t be showing up is Keanu Reeves’ John Wick himself, as the show takes place 40 years before the events of the movies.

Related: John Wick: The High Table & Elder Explained

Many such details about The Continental were graciously just dropped by Lionsgate Television chief Kevin Beggs in an interview with Deadline. Another fact about the show revealed by Beggs touches on the format, which it turns out will be more limited series than full series. As Beggs explained, “How we’ve approached this first season is as three essentially 90-minute events which you could construe as a limited series or a limited event series."

A screenshot of John Wick returning to the Continental in John Wick - Chapter 3: Parabellum

Formatting The Continental season 1 as three 90-minute “events” is indeed interesting as it basically means the show will be broken up into a trio of movies. Averaged out, that equals four and a half 60-minute episodes or six 30-minute episodes. In any event, John Wick fans will get 270 minutes of new John Wick universe content to relish. As for the future of the John Wick movie franchise, two more films are in the works, though it was recently revealed that John Wick 4 and 5 will no longer shoot back to back. It’s also been reported that John Wick 4 goes before cameras beginning in June. Unlike The Continental, the next John Wick movie will feature Reeves’ famous killer, now apparently transformed into some kind of superhero after the events of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum.

There’s no question after three movies that John Wick has established itself as one of the most popular action franchises around. Now the question is whether The Continental can set up an even wider John Wick universe that could carry on into multiple iterations over coming years. Certainly there is a rich enough mythology behind John Wick to bear further exploration. But of course the fact of there being mythology to explore isn’t a guarantee of compelling storytelling. Many questions will be answered when The Continental finally makes its way to Starz as, essentially, three movies. It will be interesting to see if this format succeeds.

Next: How John Wick 3 Sets Up The Continental TV Show

Source: Deadline